Eruption, watercolor

ET Fruit, sculpture

Margy Nelson is a neurobiologist turned scientific illustrator who also turns her fascination with form and function into art pieces, on paper and as three-dimensional fabric constructions. She adds, "This may explain the duality of my artistic interests, away from the microscope....my work cycles between the analytical and the anarchic -- and I am enjoying the trip. Whenever I can, I recycle my scientific pieces into something more "artistic," often using the computer as my drawing instrument. At times, though, it is a pleasure to escape the constaints imposed by the precise, realistic approach of scientific illustration, and to give free rein to my imagination. Watercolor has finally given me an 'out'. Watercolor paints are notoriously unpredictable in their behavior, and it delights me to let the colors play for a while on the paper, and see where the paint and my imagination take me."

Color Networks, watercolor

Hairy Thing, watercolor